WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) released the following statement celebrating the Senate’s passage of the Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422), bipartisan legislation that Senator Rosen helped introduce earlier this year. The bill passed the Senate with a vote of 73 to 25.
“Nevada’s public lands are some of the most pristine and majestic places in the world, and they must be protected,” said Senator Rosen. “I’m glad to see that the Senate has voted in support of the Great American Outdoors Act, bipartisan legislation I was proud to help introduce. This landmark bill will help ensure public lands in Nevada and across the country remain protected for future generations. I will continue to be a fierce defender of Nevada’s natural wonders in Congress and support legislation that protects our state’s parks and other public lands for years to come.”
BACKGROUND: This legislation builds upon previously introduced legislation that Rosen co-sponsored: the Land Water Conservation Fund Permanent Funding Act (S. 1081), which would permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), and the Restore Our Parks Act (S. 500), which would provide mandatory funding for National Park Service (NPS) deferred maintenance. In addition to NPS maintenance, S. 3422 includes funding for deferred maintenance projects at the Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Indian Education schools. Since its founding in 1965, the LWCF has provided more than $100 million in funding to parks projects and land preservation in Nevada.
Senator Rosen filed an amendment to the Great American Outdoors Act that would prohibit the Secretary of Interior from changing the designations of Gold Butte National Monument and Basin and Range National Monument as national monuments.
Rosen also co-sponsored amendments to the bill that would create a uniform standard for National Heritage Areas (NHAs) throughout the country, as well as eliminate the National Heritage System sunset provision, withdraw approximately 450,000 acres of the Ruby Mountain Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest from oil and gas leasing, and authorize the transfer of administrative jurisdiction over certain Bureau of Land Management land in Elko from the Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for use as a national VA cemetery.
Last year, Senator Rosen voted in support of the Natural Resources Management Act (S. 47), a comprehensive federal lands bill that would work to improve access to outdoor recreation, such as increasing public land access for hunters and fishers. That legislation also permanently reauthorized the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Last year, Rosen also helped introduce the ANTIQUITIES Act of 2019, reaffirming her commitment to protecting Nevada’s national monuments. This legislation would protect and enhance national monuments by declaring Congress’ support for the 51 National Monuments established from 1996 to 2017.
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